By Laura Lucía Becerra Elejalde, CAMBIOColombia, September 25, 2023
(Translated by Eunice Gibson, CSN Volunteer Translator)
Three out of every ten families don’t have access to all daily rations of food. That adds up to 2.6 million households. The majority feel that the situation is worse in comparison to a year ago.
Food insecurity in Colombia continues to be a problem. 69.1 percent of families were able to eat three meals a day in June of 2023, according to the latest report of Dane’s (National Administrative Department of Statistics) Social Pulse survey.
That means that three out of every ten households only eat once or twice a day. Out of 8.5 million families, the economic conditions of 2.64 million of them are not sufficient to guarantee them three meals a day.
Of those families, nearly all of them (2.55 million) are able to eat twice a day, while 85,248 families only eat once a day, and for 1,754 families, there are days when they don’t eat at all.
The situation has improved in comparison with the statistics from a year ago, as in June of 2022, 77.3 percent of families were not able to eat three times a day.
How do families perceive the economy?
The majority of Colombian households (53.8%) feel that their situation is worse than it was a year ago; 37.9% believe it’s the same, and 45.7% think that it has improved somewhat.
That reflects their ability to buy basic products, such as clothing, shoes, and food. 67.1% of the families said that in June of this year, they were not in a better position than they were a year ago. 28.8% do believe they have a better opportunity to buy basic products, while 4.1% of families say they are able to buy more than before.
Something similar is happening with articles like furniture, television, washing machines and other appliances, although the statistics show greater restrictions. 69.7 per cent of families, that’s seven of every ten, have fewer possibilities to buy those articles; 28.3% think they have the same possibility, and 2 percent of households have more ability to buy articles like these.
Also, 73.9 per cent of heads of household in this country say that they have no possibility of saving part of their income. 13.7% are able to save, and the remaining 12.4% admit that they don’t earn any kind of income.